Slinfold skipper Guy Thorne says batsman Jon Augustus has been the difference for his title-chasing side this season.

Slinfold have so far been the surprise package in division three west after joining the Sussex League's new third tier from division two of the Invitation League.

A seven-wicket win over Arundel put them 46 points behind leaders Middleton with a game in hand.

Former Lewes player Augustus continued his prolific form with a knock of 119 not out to help chase down a total of 209-8.

His haul takes his total for the summer to 593 from nine games, putting him second in the league's scoring charts behind former Sussex professional Sean Heather of premier division Stirlands.

Thorne said: "Jon is a special talent and he has taken us to a new level. He has been outstanding and has been the difference between us being a mid-table side and one being up there and challenging for the title.

"But we don't just rely on him because when he has not played well we have been able to grind out results.

"We have other players who can step in and win games but Jon adds a bit of quality on top of that."

Thorne has not been surprised his side have managed to maintain a sustained title challenge.

He said: "If someone at the start of the season had offered us second place with a game in hand at the halfway point, I'd have snatched their hand off.

"In that respect we have done better than I expected but as the season has gone on I have not been surprised with how we have done.

"I knew we had the players to do well and our performances have been really consistent. We have a settled team, we have a squad of only 14 or 15 players and every one of them has been performing well."

Middleton continued their title push with a maximum-point victory over Findon after Ben Hansford hit 70 to help chase down 130.

Ifield moved into third place with a five-wicket win over Goring who declared on 240-6 after Sam Botham scored 115 not out.

Phil Ball hit 85 as Bognor made 221-6 to beat Billingshurst by 99 runs.

Matt Gregory (85) and Dave Galea (63) top scored as Pagham made 234-5 in a draw against Henfield, who held out for 173-9.

Glynde continue to lead the way in the east division after claiming their seventh win in ten starts as they beat Uckfield Anderida.

It was close, though, as the leaders needed an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 36 between Stuart Mouland (28 not out) and Dale Tranter (19 not out) to get them past Uckfield's 229-8. Ryan Moore top scored with 69 for Uckfield as Tranter took 3-43 then Joe Adams cracked 66 in reply. Ben Gaine was the pick of the Uckfield bowlers with 3-42.

Aaron Yeomans grabbed 6-48 on his debut as second-placed Seaford kept up the pressure with a six-wicket win at Crawley.

Bowling in tandem with skipper Chris Stanyard (2-27), the off-spinners reduced Crawley to 143 all out. Nick Pink then top-scored with 37 as Seaford reached their target for the loss of four wickets.

Seaford face Glynde on July 19 and Yeomans said: "We are all delighted with the win and the performance was encouraging too."

Auri Basu hit 107 not out and Darren Senadhira chipped in with 58 as Ansty made 285-5 declared away to Hellingly but the hosts managed to bat out a draw with Scott Pearce (81) and Ian Rippengal (66) taking them to a respectable 248-7 at the close.

Mike Johnson led the way with 77 as Keymer and Hassocks set 214-6 at home to Lindfield but the visitors held on for a draw at 192-8 with Kevin Chamberlain hitting 55 while Nick Campion took 5-78.

There were plenty of runs at Chiddingly as the hosts amassed 273-7 with Andy Samuel scoring 96 and James Burgess 53. Burgess Hill then made 234-5 in reply.